New Earth

Look Who's back! On Saturday 15th April I sat through that dance program in sheer excitement waiting for the return of Doctor Who in it's second run - this time with a new Doctor.

After the simply amazing Christmas Invasion, New Earth seems slightly down in comparision to the christmas classic, which was arguably the best of the new generation of Doctor Who. As expected, David Tennant (the Doctor) was on fine form, delivering the part in such a way that makes most of the episode's flaws seem minor and almost unnecerssary to the whole structure. His sidekick Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) presents some problems toward the episode...

Unfortunately Piper is trying so hard to sound humourous, but fails miserably and sadly sounds very unlike Rose and actually more like herself when she's not possessed. Fortunately, Zoe Wannamaker (voice of Cassandra) is here to save the day! Her credits include many comedy's including the more recent My Family which give her a good boost during the belly-laugh scenes such as 'Oh my God! I'm a chav!' Which has caused laughs world-wide according to producer Phil Collinson.

Moving on from the characters, I'd like to present some slight niggles I had with New Earth's story. First of all, it has the potential and looks like a classic Doctor Who episode with freaky zombies in their hundreds creeping out of green tombs with a kind of "urghhh" noise (very reminiscent of The Tomb of the Cybermen).

However, the core audience for Doctor Who is children and for them to enjoy it they must understand the story. I think the story was delivered in a terrible way by the actors. An example of this is the confusion caused when Cassandra possessed Rose. There was no sign that Cassandra WAS Rose when not talking, and as the episode went on, I found myself believing that we were seeing the real Rose and not a possessed form. Another flaw in the story was the whole idea of the zombies and their purpose; which I must admit, I found confusing until watching the episode back.

Another surprising addition to the story was the Face of Boe. Many people have told me how pointless the scenes were, but I think they added a flair to the episode. My theory is that "the secret" has something to do with future episodes, as 'Boe did state the Doctor will meet him again. Not pointless, just mild hints.

Although the overall episode was average it is no change to last years Rose which featured a similar feeling to this episode, and thankfully last year things picked up as the series went on. Some of the acting was poor and delivered the story in a confusing way but other than that it was okay. I still think that Russell T. Davies cannot write Doctor Who. This is because most of his episodes have been average (except The Long Game). Let's face it, RTD really need's to start changing things in series three because series after series of mildly-entertaining Doctor Who will not suffice die-hard fans. My prediction is that after Tooth and Claw things will start to hot up and we will realise that this is a mere light-hearted opener to what will be a fantastic series.